''Illustrirte Zeitung''The word "Illustrirt" is written in contemporary German mandatorily as "Illustriert" with an additional "e", leading to the fact that today's German-speaking readers may be irritated by the title of the historical magazine at first. () was Germany's first illustrated magazine that existed between 1843 and 1944. It was also known as ''Leipziger illustrirte Zeitung''. The magazine described itself as the Germany's illustrated magazine with an international view.

History and profile

''Illustrirte Zeitung'' was founded by Johann Jakob Weber in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

in 1843. The ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'' and ''

L'Illustration ''L'Illustration'' (; 1843–1944) was a French language, French illustrated weekly newspaper published in Paris. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in ...

'' which was published in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

were the two models for the magazine which were both successful commercial enterprises. The first issue of ''Illustrirte Zeitung'' was published on 1 July 1843. The magazine was a weekly news magazine which had a wide scope. It mostly covered news on daily affairs, public and social life,

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

and

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

. It was very popular among the

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

middle classes Middle classes or Middle Classes may refer to: * The middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically ...

. The magazine liberally employed big photographs and art. It made significant contributions to the use of photographs in news. At the initial phase of the magazine, however, it was hard for Johann Jakob Weber to find quality photographs to publish in the magazine due to the lack of good illustrations produced in Germany. Therefore, photographs were mostly taken from

British media There are several different types of mass media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The United Kingdom is known for its large music industry, along with its new and upcoming artists. The country also has ...

for a while. Then the magazine began to employ the work by German artists. ''Illustrirte Zeitung'' also included the

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

-related essays by Roderich Benedix, Eduard Devrient,

Heinrich Laube Heinrich Laube (18 September 1806 – 1 August 1884), German dramatist, novelist and theatre-director, was born at Szprotawa, Sprottau in Prussian Silesia. Life He studied theology at university of Halle, Halle and university of Breslau, Breslau ...

and

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

. Following the 5041st issue the magazine ceased publication in September 1944.

Circulation

Six months after its publication the circulation of ''Illustrirte Zeitung'' was 7,500 copies. In 1846 it sold 11,000 copies.

Notes

References

External links

*
Scanned copies
(1843-1877 at the Austrian National Library) {{DEFAULTSORT:Illustrirte Zeitung 1843 establishments in the German Confederation 1944 disestablishments in Germany Defunct magazines published in Germany German-language magazines Magazines established in 1843 Magazines disestablished in 1944 Magazines published in Leipzig News magazines published in Germany